My Journey to Eliminate Debt: September 2008

Accident & disability insurance for the self employed.

*Today I was reminded of the importance of having accident and disability insurance, particularly if you are self employed. I got a phone call late last night to say that one my friends that I work with had been in accident and was to have surgery. Today she is recovering, and she will be OK, but it will be 5-6 months before she might be able to work again.Now I don't know if she has insurance, but it made me glad that I have it!

When buying accident and disability insurance you can choose the option of being unable to do any work, or unable to do the specified occupation. I have selected occupation specific insurance that would start three months after injury. I would receive $70,000 a year and the cost is just approximately $1300.

As a self employed person this was a real wake up call for me. I need to make a professional emergency kit. This would list all my current clients and their contact information, details on how to access client files and how I want my business assets disposed of (books, software etc). I also need to make a copy of my filing cabinet keys and leave in a safe place.

When Dad suddenly collapsed last year I found myself in Sydney with all my filing cabinet keys, without many client contact details and with no idea of how long I would be off work. Three colleagues just jumped in and helped me out. They saw my clients for me while I was off, at no charge, with no handover or access to history or treatment files for 2 weeks.

Now I'm in the position to return the favour to one of those friends.

So if you are self employed have you got accident and disability insurance in case something unexpected happens? Do you have a professional emergency kit?

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Please ignore my PS if you are a regular reader here :) This post bought them out of the woodwork!!

PS.
* Don't waste your time & mine leaving posts linking back to your affiliate link for an insurance site disguised as a genuine post.

Comments with links to sales websites will be deleted mercilessly!!! Just as it says at the top of the comment box!

Either you can't read, or you think I'm stupid but I'm sick of people just trying to get a free link so move on.

Getting my life back

The last 2 years with all that happened has felt like and emotional roller coaster. I had to just get on with what needed to be done to stay afloat and stuff the consequences. Well by making the change to self employment I am finally starting to feel like my old self again. The stress has reduced enormously.

One of the main things I'm trying to focus on, as well as finances, is on improving my health. I want to lose the rest of the weight ( 20 kgs) before the end of the year. So I will write a bit more about frugal health over the next few weeks.

Now that it seems my income is a lot healthier ( about 3 X what I was earning before!) I also want to take a few more breaks and relaxing holidays so I can de-stress more regularly. For a few years now we just have not been able to afford holidays so it feels incredibly indulgent, but I can get used to it!

I have just booked a 2 bedroom cottage at the beach for a week at Christmas. It is located across the road from the ocean, and near bushland in a quite location. The total cost for the 7 nights is $1050. I am really looking forward to just swimming, bush walking and lazing about.

Aside from that holiday I am starting to plan for some trips away in 2009 for training that will be tax deductable (the best kind of holiday!). So far I am looking at New Zealand, Perth and Darwin. I have to do a certain amount of training each 2 years and I'm way behind because of caring for Dad last year. So I may as well combine travel with training requirements. Next month I will start setting aside money in my travel account.

Spending this week:

$368 on books and resources for work.

$78 on groceries

$25 petrol

$99 on a pair of winter boots marked down from $230

It feels strange to keep seeing money going into my account every few days compared to just having a payday each fortnight. This week I am letting it build up in my account so I can pay next months bills in advance again and then I will pay more off that HSBC card.

I feel like I am finally getting on top on things, and getting my life back, and it feels really good!

Back from the Beach

Well the last few days were great! Dad was well enough to take out on a boat trip which he really enjoyed. The weather was perfect for paddling at the beach and we all returned home happily sunburned and tired out. This morning when I went to pick up Dad to take him to the beach till lunch time he had completely forgotten that we were down visiting him. The good thing is that he is happier, and physically healthier than he has been for a few years, but the dementia is progressing rapidly.

Here's a breakdown of our costs:

Accommodation $150
Petrol $139
Food $134
Cruise $ 75
Total $498

I have also paid another $400 off the HSBC card.

Beachbum at heart...

I'm about to head off to the beach for a few days to visit Dad. I'm really looking forward to the break to be truthful! This last week at work has been wonderful. I'm having a great time doing the type of work I really love to do. I've been mainly working with a lot of teens this week which keeps me on my toes! And doing a lot of creative, arty type activities with them which I find really relaxing.

So I am not taking my computer away with me and I'm leaving a message on the phone that I am not available for the next four days. I booked a cruise ($25 each) for the Sunday if Dad is well enough and other than that we will be laying about on the beach, eating fish and chips, listening to the waves and reminiscing about old times.

I can't wait! I'm really just a beach bum at heart...

These photos are from our last visit. This beach is about 5 minutes drive from where we are staying. I like taking Dad to all the old places he used to take us as kids. They are the beaches that his parents used to take him to so hopefully they are familiar to him. We usually just walk and talk and then sit on the beach and have lunch.

Last time we rolled up our pants and went paddling which was great fun! He always tell's me he wants to go for a swim and I have to pretend that I have forgotton to bring his swimmers. Luckily he forgets about it soon after.

Dementia is such a sad disease. It still sneaks up on me at times. You get tricked into thinking that he is better than he really is.

Last time we were visiting I took Dad to a beach that has an old rock pool for swimming. I was talking to him about when we used to swim there as kids and then we would go over to the wharf and watch the boats come in at the end of the day before going home, happily exhausted, covered in sand and sunburned.

He said he couldn't remember it all. Then he said "Was I a good father when you were little?"

... he really had no recollection at all...

"Yes Dad, you were wondeful"

The only thing that I CAN do for him , is to give him back some of those memories, even though I know that they last only for the moment.

With dementia, moments are all you really have, so I plan on making the most of them

Have a great weekend & make the most of your moments!

Close call with a kangaroo!

We had to pick up our son from uni on the weekend and we had a close call with a kangaroo. They are so fast! He jumped straight out in front of the car, luckily my husband had seen some movement and started to slow down.

We swerved, it slid under the front of the car a bit as we stopped and apart from losing a bit of fur of it's bum, it was fine and jumped away. It was a big one too, about 5 ft. It could have been a real disaster if we had not already been slowing down. As it is we just have a dented number plate, but if he had landed on the bonnet, or we had hit him going faster it would have done a lot of damage to the car and he probably would have crashed through the window, not a nice thought!

I've been flat chat working and talking to people about work. I won't bore you with the details but it's all good and I have already exceeded my goal of 16 new clients and invoicing $6000 this month. I won't receive most of that money till the end of next month but it is nice to know I'm hitting my targets! I expect to pay more off the HSBC card next week when money from last months invoices gets deposited.

I spent some time on the weekend working on my websites and online income ideas. I joined The Niche Blogger that Amy Bass has set up. It really is fantastic! It is perfect for anyone who is new to earning money with niche sites and needs step by step instructions. I joined a lot of crappy, overpriced memberships when I blew all that money trying to make money online, and this is under priced! Amy has put all the detail in this site that newbies (and oldies!) need to know. It will save you hours of learning time!

I've learned some good stuff at The Niche Blogger in the last 2 days. I decided to use word press for some of my old domains that I have been transferring to a new host and I have 5 new niche blogs installed ready to post content to.

So life is busy, but it's good. I'm off to visit Dad at the end of the week which I'm really looking forward to.

Ringing phone will pay off my credit card!

My phone rang all day yesterday with work. I am just amazed at how well this is going. I just checked my voicemail and I got two messages left on my phone last night. One is for another company that want to use my services. They want to do a phone interview on Friday but I am booked solid so will have to do it next week. The other is from a colleague who is reducing his workload, 'would I like 10 of his long term clients and how soon can I take them?'

Truly, me head is just spinning at the minute!

I really thought it would take me a couple of months to fill my client load. But consider it done and dusted now!

As a result of these messages I need to find a room for one more day a week. That will bring me up to five days work full-time. At the minute I have a room 3 days and I work 9am -7 pm to fit the work in. I have the 4th day set aside for the company who said I can use their office and this will fill up another day. I will have to beg, borrow or steal an office ASAP!

I worked out I can pay off the HSBC card in 4 weeks if I pay $682 a week which I think I can manage with all this work. So long as we keep living as if we were on my old wage we can do this.

Grocery shopping, phone plans and allergies!

Yesterday my husband and I did the shopping together for the first time in years. We decided to try and buy for a month and we spent $430. Our goal is to avoid stopping off at the corner store each day. A bad habit that we have slipped back into. So the freezer and pantry are full and we are eating smaller, less expensive meals.

We also changed our home phone plan, from $70 a month to $30. It is cheaper for us both to use our mobiles which are on $49 capped plans($300 worth of calls) and both deductible as a business expense. Even though our income has actually doubled now I have left work we are still trying to find ways to cut down our expenses.

I paid another $300 off the HSBC card yesterday. As extra money comes in it will go off the debt.

When we were shopping we bought some nuts to eat. Last night I had an allergic reaction to them. My face puffed up, I got a cough, my eyes were puffy, and my skin started itching. My face is still very red today, I look like I've been sunburned! I have a lot of allergies and so now I'll add nuts to the list. I think I really need to put some effort into eating better this month.

I also got another call this morning for some work for a company. I explained that I could only do a couple of hours a week as I don't have many vacancies at the moment and I couldn't find a room for an extra day a week. They immediately offered their room at no charge when I am seeing their clients which I accepted! So another contact is in the mail, I get a room rent free and they are still happy to pay my contract price.

I am seriously happy at the moment! Red & puffy, but happy...

Get ready for a snowfight!

I'm sure you've heard of snowflaking your debts, well I'm ready for a snowfight with mine!Since my last post I have paid $1843 off my HSBC credit card!! YAY !! Money is starting to flow at last and I'm ready to throw as much as I can off this card.

I have paid all my bills for the coming month, work is going really well. Yesterday my phone rang all day. So I decided to get stuck into the debt reduction ASAP. I would love to get rid of that card by the end of this month.

I am paying them off in order of highest interest rate to lowest and it also happens to be lowest to highest balance. I will be snowflaking every spare cent I have at this card, in fact expect a big snowfight on this blog over the next few weeks!

September bills paid & money leftover!

I posted out 20 marketing letters on Tuesday afternoon and by 9.30 Wednesday morning I had a contract agreement to provide services for a small local business! They have been unable to get a provider in the town where I opened my second office. I increased my usual price by 10% and they didn't bat an eyelid! They are currently paying someone travel money to go and do the work so they will still save money.

I decided to make some payments this morning and updated the balances in my sidebar. There is still $1140 in the emergency fund. I also paid $1000 university fees for my sons accommodation. All the bills are up to date. The mortgage is paid for the month ahead which is a relief. AND I have still got $1500 left in my ordinary account!

I set up ING accounts for more specific purposes and goals and will try and go back to using cash for everything. The accounts will be:

Home EF. Goal $10,000

Business EF. Goal $3000

Bills Account.

Travel Account. (For tax deductable business trips other wise known as holidays!)

Investment Account.

So it's an odd feeling not having a payday but it's a really good feeling to know that everything is paid up to date for September and I still have money in the bank.! I am much less stressed even though life is pretty busy.

If things keep going well expect some serious debt reduction next month.

Freelancing is the life for me!

Yesterday morning I resigned from the temporary job that I have been doing for a few weeks now. It will free up two days a week for me to work on other project that I have started to write about here.

Last night I got a phone call from someone who works in that organisation. A couple of years ago I compiled a training package for them. I had to take the work of three other people and compile it into a training program. Now this is perfect example of what I have mentioned before, taking on new opportunites to learn a skill whenever they are offered.

I had never done anything like that before but they were keen to have me so I said yes. I learned a lot doing it, and once it was finished never heard any more. Well it seems the program has been going through evaluation (it's part of a research project) and they are going to be running it here soon. She asked me if I would like to deliver the training locally, she had heard I left the temporary job that morning!

Of course I said yes, It will be about 3 hours a week for 8 weeks. Now I've never delivered a training package before either but it will work out.

I suppose I am a freelancer now. Just taking on whatever work comes along and having the freedom to manage my own working arrangements and make my own opportunities. It's kind of exciting and a bit scary all at the same time, but every day I am more and more confident that I made the right decision to go out on my own.

Progress Report # 15

This month has flown by and yes we survived. 'Thriving' is coming soon! We started off well with daily tracking and no spend days and then we got behind with it.

In the last month I exceeded my business goals. I got 16 new clients, invoiced $3742, paid my two months rent ( 1 arrears, 1 in advance) and opened up my second office.

When not working for myself, I worked for another organisation, the pay is dreadful but I have gained really valuable experience there which is what I wanted. I have decided to finish up there this week and get to work on an online project that I am very excited about.

Basically I've decided to take one specific service of my offline work and work online in that field. I finished building the website on the weekend and I should be up and running by this time next week. Cost so far: $9 for a website name. Overheads, $10 a month hosting. All I need then is traffic and clients. But more on that in another post.

On the weekend my husband and I travelled to Sydney to attend an information session on the business opportunity he was offered recently. It looks very good and there is a lot of potential for a viable business in a field that he loves, and that complements what he is doing. We are very excited about it and plan on going ahead and starting it up before the end of the month.

So this month has been really full on and I haven't visited near as many blogs as I usually would so I apologise for not commenting as much as usual :)

Here are the numbers:

Mortgage: $150, 176
Mastercard: $14,240
Tax Bill: $1400
Credit Card: $10,130

Emergency Fund: $ 2,489

I have just been paying the minimums on everything so far and getting up to date on all my bills. I am keeping some money in reserve to cover expenses and I plan on making extra payments on my debts soon.

The Good

I LOVE working for myself! It's wonderful!

I got approached to take on another contract last Friday

I am going to launch part on my business online this month!

The business opportunity for my husband is looking very positive, with government funding and advertising for providers.

The Bad
An unexpected glasses expense.

I'm burning the candle at both ends and not eating right and exercising.

NO Ugly this month!

My Journey to Eliminate Debt

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